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In the evolving story of Luna v2.0, the band continues to entertain in new ways. While last year it was the eclectic and meticulously curated covers album A Sentimental Education, this year’s tour seems to be an exercise in finding the deep cuts that haven’t been performed in more a decade. Its been three years now and as we’ve chronicled umpteen shows, but at this Industry City show in August we saw Luna perform four songs for the first time — “Math Wiz”, “I Can’t Wait”, “Broken Chair” and the Galaxie 500 number “Strange”. Overall, this show was one of the stronger performances we’ve seen from Luna, and it wasn’t just the ambitious selist. The band seems in particularly good form, tight, focused, and in great spirits. These days Luna shows are must see and we’re luck the band continues to faithfully play NYC shows when they do their mini tours.

While Luna currently does not have any shows scheduled (they just finished a tour of Europe), Dean Wareham has a new collaboration with Cheval Sombre and they will play NYC at Le Poisson Rouge on December 7. Tickets here.

I recorded this set with the outdoor-friendly Neumann large diaphragm cards blended with soundboard feed mixed with precision by Evan Player. Despite some minor noise from the windy evening, the mix worked quite well and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

At some point in the last three years, Luna transitioned from a “reunion” to an actively recording and touring band. This year saw two new Luna releases, a full album of eclectic covers (A Sentimental Education) and an all-instrumental EP (A Place Of Greater Safety). For A Sentimental Education, the band placed their own unique stamp on an interesting selection of covers. It was the first new Luna album in 13 years and it hit all the right buttons — 70s and 80s influences and one 90s contemporary. The selection of songs are for the connoisseur, no obvious tracks to be found.

The final night of Luna’s most recent tour reached Brooklyn Steel two Saturdays ago. This was the largest venue the band had played in NYC maybe ever, and a healthy crowd showed up in support. The band began the night with opening track from Greater Safety and proceeded to treat the fans to a nice selection of classic material mixed with the new versions of memorable tracks from Sentimental. Indeed the set ended with an inspired performance of Mercury Rev’s “Car Wash Hair” followed by a series of encores. On this night, the rarity was an infrequent appearance of the Galaxie 500 classic “Tugboat”.

I recorded this set with the Neumann hypercards mounted at the soundboard and mixed with a superb feed mixed by the band’s outstanding FOH Paul. The blend of the two sources produced perhaps the best of our many recordings of Luna to appear on this site. Enjoy!

Early in October, we posted the Luna show from the first night of Rough Trade, which was part of a brief four-night tour from a month ago. All four nights of the tour were recorded, and this is the first show of the run at The Birchmere in Alexandria Virginia. I didn’t attend, but fortunately both Kubacheck and his friends from Sweden (Joakim and Ulrika) were there. It was Kuba with the recording and Joakim with an amazing tour diary that was just posted this week at the excellent fan site A Head Full Of Wishes.

Here is some of Joakim’s story of this show:

“They play Fire In Cairo. We’ve never seen them play it before, just heard the recordings, it’s nice to hear it for real. The Cure is band me and Ulrika has strong feelings for. Without Pictures of You and Lovesong we probably wouldn’t have been together. It was about 16 years ago, in a Stockholm suburb apartment, they where playing Disintegration at a party, and we danced, slowly, the night came to an end. She lent me Bewitched and Penthouse, it was nice. I met someone else, but a couple of years later we danced again. The same songs. Music has that affect on you.

“Please get off the stage”, a speaker voice is saying after the show. We get the set list anyway. We step back out to the bar area and we meet Mike’s friends, Kathleen and Paul. Kathleen had made a t-shirt, with a print saying “I only dance to New Order”. It’s pure genius. I wish we could have spent much more time together.

Everyone was overwhelmed by the show. Talking about how good it was. And the band looked very, very happy when they were outside in the lobby talking to all the fans. I saw Dean standing in the crowd of people and he looked at me, did a sign with his hands, keeping that satisfied smile on his face. He’s not always that comfortable after the shows, but this time he looked really relaxed. We talked with Sean for a while and Mike and Kathleen and Paul.

Sadly we had to leave, the place was closing. We called a taxi and went outside and waited in the parking lot. Someone yelled Ulrika’s name and it was Lee, he was driving his own car, we waved back and shouted “hello, see you tomorrow”. He is nice to us, they all are.”

There’s a lot more about this show and its all great, read the full diary entry [HERE].

Kuba recorded this set with his trusty MBHO rig and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

With their reunion currently in its third year, I think its safe to assume that Luna is back. The band has been doing these brief and intermittent tours since 2014, and the current one (four dates) completed with two nights at Rough Trade in Brooklyn. The first night was a standard mixed set and the second night included a complete performance of the Penthouse album.

The Saturday show began in earnest with 23 Minutes in Brussels, a lengthy song with a propelled instrumental segment that usually works as a show-stopping number. From the outset it was clear that this was going to be no ordinary night. There was classic numbers, obscure tracks, a song from Britta Philips‘ new solo album Luck or Magic, and ultimately two callbacks for encores. But what was most striking about this show was the band’s positive energy, tight arrangements and relative feeling of being at ease. They’re comfortable being Luna and that is a very good thing that bodes well for more tours and for our presence at local (and some distant) shows.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted inside of the soundboard booth and mixed with Evan’s superb feed. The sound quality is pretty much ideal. Enjoy!

After their triumphant return in 2015, it remained to be seen whether Luna’s reunion was permanent. The band took some time off after their New Year’s show in California, but earlier this month Luna played the first of quite a few scheduled 2016 shows. The brief two-show run through Texas continued the band’s impressive return. For this particular Dallas show, the setlist contained the familiar songs, but also included a couple of rarities and of course the show featured some clever banter. The good news for NYC fans is that the band is back this coming weekend. Luna has sold out the Bell House this Friday night but our readers might be advised to try to find secondary market tickets. If that does not work out, Luna is returning to NYC for two shows in October at Rough Trade — and will perform Penthouse in its entirety.

Luna’s bassist Britta Phillips released her first solo album Luck or Magic last month, and she is playing a free solo show (with a familiar backing band) at Rough Trade tomorrow (Thursday) night.

Kubacheck recorded this Dallas show with his trusty MBHO rig and the sound quality is equally excellent to his previous contributions to this site. Enjoy!

If you Download this recording from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Luna, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the links at their website, from Bandcamp and the Long Players Box Set from Captured Tracks Records [HERE].

One of the nicer things about this superb Luna reunion tour has been the band’s acknowledgement of their own history. In Atlanta, Luna performed the entire Penthouse record from start to finish (recording here), and earlier in the week of New York shows, the Bowery Ballroom night was a chance to acknowledge the location of their final pre-reunion show in 2005 and the excellent documentary Tell Me Do You Miss Me of that tour (recording here).

In Brooklyn, the band welcomed back the original drummer Stanley Demeski, the legendary percussionist from the Feelies who was the behind the kit for the first three Luna albums, including the aforementioned Penthouse. At this special night in Brooklyn, Demeski added a nice extra set of skins to three songs for which he played on the original recordings, including a particularly memorable “23 Minutes in Brussels”. The guest appearance was the highlight of one of the best played shows of the tour and what is also one of the longer sets of the reunion shows.

Kubacheck recorded this show from a stand at the right nook in front of the soundboard booth with his excellent MBHO cards, and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

If you Download this recording from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Luna, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the links at their website, from Bandcamp and the Long Players Box Set from Captured Tracks Records [HERE].

After a couple of successful mini-tours overseas (plus one Summer NYC show), it was time for Luna to tour the East coast in their highly successful reunion. The first show of this tour became one of the most memorable because the band chose this night to perform the complete album Penthouse start to finish. This release came at the pinnacle of Luna’s 1990s success, and it is perhaps their most consistently excellent album. Its certainly one of my personal favorites. Penthouse material has been prominent throughout the 2015 shows, so the performance of the complete record only added three songs that had not previously been played, and a couple that only made sparse setlist appearances. But it was all very tight, well played, and the band’s between-song banter continues to draw smiles. After the completion of Penthouse, Luna came out for a mini-set and an encore that stretched this concert longer than any previous in 2015.

Kubacheck recorded this set from the front and center balcony of this venue — an excellent location sound-wise for capturing the show. Unfortunately, the crowd is boisterous and a bit chatty, but overall its an excellent recording. Enjoy!

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

If you Download this recording from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Luna, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the links at their website, from Bandcamp and the Long Players Box Set from Captured Tracks Records [HERE].

Ten years ago Luna retired with a series of shows at the Bowery Ballroom that eventually became part of the documentary Tell Me Do You Miss Me. In their return for two shows last week the band were well aware of the connection, but in their infinite jest used the reference as inspiration for their usual relaxed and often hilarious banter. When a band feels like they’re playing in front of friends, the show tends to be a celebratory affair and that was exactly feeling on this Wednesday night. In terms of the setlist, Luna pulled out a few numbers that haven’t seen much rotation this tour — “Fuzzy Wuzzy” and “Anesthesia” among them, the latter of which we are streaming below. Its going to be a good time for Luna fans here at NYCTaper. After this Bowery show, we’ll also have at least two more recordings.

I recorded this set in our usual location at Bowery. The mix in the room was terrific and we supplemented that with a feed from the board that fortified the vocals. The result is a superb recording. Enjoy!

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

If you Download this recording from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Luna, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the links at their website, from Bandcamp and the Long Players Box Set from Captured Tracks Records [HERE].

We are extremely fortunate the Luna UK Tour in August has been so well documented. The first point of departure is the excellent fan site A Head Full of Wishes, which has compiled all the setlists, photos, video clips, and an extremely entertaining series of first person accounts of the tour. The stories contain multiple characters, including our own personal hero Kubacheck who taped this show and also the next night in Leeds (that we posted here). The HFOW post regarding this London show described the writer’s personal experiences and includes some recollections of the show itself. What’s not captured in the review — but is all over this recording — is the boisterous and animated crowd. Normally, this would be the bane of the taper’s existence, but for this night the crowd was entirely involved in the show and showed their great appreciation of the band. And for that, we can’t complain. The show itself was a rager from start to finish with a strong setlist similar to the recent shows. Among the numbers perhaps the lack of personal favorite “California” was offset by the inclusion of the not-always-played “Lost in Space”, but overall the existence of three encore songs tells us a lot about this excellent London night.

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

If you Download this recording from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Luna, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the links at their website, from Bandcamp and the Long Players Box Set from Captured Tracks Records [HERE].

The Luna performance from June at McCarren Park is perhaps my favorite show of this entire year. The recording has been on constant rotation on my playlist. That special night was Luna’s first show in NYC in ten years and it occurred on Britta Phillips’ birthday. As it happens, this show last month in the British Northlands city Leeds took place on Dean Wareham’s birthday. After the previous night in London (recording coming soon), the band settled into the more intimate venue in front of an engaged crowd, with a show that started out strong and quite literally never let up. There are many highlights and we are streaming two of them, including the second call for an encore that led to an excellent version of “Tiger Lily”. There is an outstanding first person account of this show (and other dates on the UK tour) at the excellent fan site A Head Full of Wishes (here).

Luna will of course be back in town in NYC next month. The band plays two shows at Bowery Ballroom (October 7 and 8) and Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 9. Those shows are currently sold out, but the nights will all be Events so its suggested that our local readers get tickets by hook or crook.

Kubacheck recorded this show with his trusty MBHO cards from a very advantageous position in this small-ish club and the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request, and feel free to repost the Soundcloud links.

If you Download this recording from nyctaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Luna, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the links at their website, from Bandcamp and the Long Players Box Set from Captured Tracks Records [HERE].

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